MUDCRUTCH

Mudcrutch: Tom Leadon (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar); Benmont Tench (vocals, piano, organ, keyboards); Tom Petty (vocals, bass guitar, background vocals); Mike Campbell (guitar, mandolin); Randall Marsh (drums). Audio Mixer: Ryan Ulyate. Photographer: Martyn Atkins. Unknown Contributor Role: Alan Weidel. In the early-to-mid 1970s, Tom Petty's band Mudcrutch was one of the biggest things in Gainesville, Florida, but when they went to L.A. to make it big, only about half the group survived the transformation to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Three decades later, Petty decided to go back to his roots by re-forming Mudcrutch for a long-overdue debut album, along with Heartbreakers/former Mudcrutchers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell and long-lost cohorts Tom Leadon (brother of former Eagle Bernie) and Randall Marsh. Petty spontaneously banged out a batch of new tunes for the album, but the band stays true to the original Mudcrutch template of country-tinged roots rock, even attacking a couple of old cover tunes from the Mudcrutch setlist ("Six Days on the Road," "Shady Grove"). Whether it's the reconnection with his youth, the off-the-cuff working methods, or just a change of pace, Petty wound up turning out his most consistently rewarding album since the '80s.